ChatGPT Helped Me With Article Ideas For Magazines

This could be a worthwhile relationship

Screengrab by author

I’ve come up with a new way of using ChatGPT for a new purpose. And it doesn’t involve using AI to write anything that I intend to use. It’s for idea generation only.

I was looking at writing opportunities online, feeling I knew nothing about some of the subjects that editors of certain magazines were seeking.

For example, one editor of a humanist publication was looking for pitches on democracy, politics and society — or something like that. It was vague and open ended. I was totally uninspired. I have nothing to say on those subjects, but you know, work isn’t as forthcoming as it used to be, so if I can come up with ideas, that might be good.

So I asked ChatGPT for ideas. It came up with 10 possible pitches, and I was impressed.

As I started to write my pitch into an email, inspired by Chat GPT, I realised it lacked specifics. It was vague. This isn’t going to work, I thought.

So I asked ChatGPT to write an article based on pitch number 8. It created a draft. I was impressed. It delivered some specific examples of government policies in countries around the world where there was greater transparency and public consultation to improve trust and collaboration between…